Fuel life. (Must read)

[CirclesCenter]

Ok, first:

I do this for a living, I'm a Honda/Crestliner/Mercury/Briggs/John Deere/Kubota guy, that means each one of these manufacturers has sent me to endless droning classes they deem important. Been doing this for over a year. So it is my JOB to know these things.

Fuel life is extremely limited, after approximately 30 days (on the west coast) you no longer have fuel. (You have crapola)

Stabil generally only lengthens this to between 60 and 90 days.

I know it sounds nightmarish but it is true. Approximately 85% of all jobs that come into my shop are because of fuel over 30 days old.

So anyways I thought that because this does not appear to be common knowledge I would share it.

[scottpA_GS]

Wow... That is nuts..

But...

Ok, first:
Approximately 85% of all jobs that come into my shop are because of fuel over 30 days old.

Is VERY hard to believe.

[CirclesCenter]

Wow... That is nuts..

But I think that

Ok, first:
Approximately 85% of all jobs that come into my shop are because of fuel over 30 days old.

Is VERY hard to believe.

Well, I still don't believe it half the time. Especially when some of the same people keep coming back.

That's the way it is though. I guess they remember the old days when gas was gas, because they consider fuel less than 2 years old (on average) "fresh"

[makenzie71]

hmmm...I have a tank I put all my older gas in...most of it is 6 months + in age.  still runs everything just fine...including the bimmer.

[bosozoku]

Maybe on the West Coast -- here in NJ, I've parked vehicles for months and they started up fine afterwards.

BTW, interesting but irrelevant -- my sister had a 1980 Fiat that she parked after it broke down her 1st year of college.  I got to the car 6 years later, and she said that I was welcome to have it if I could drive it.  I fixed the stuck mechanism on the carburetor, and the car started right up -- 6 yr. old fuel, oil, and all.  This was in 1997, with 1991 fuel -- no doubt fuel formulae have changed since.

-b.

[darb85]

[quote\]Shelf life of stored gasoline is approximately 6 months.[/quote]


From Chevrons Web site.

its not that gas deteriorates its the moisture that builds in the air space that ruins the gas.

[ben2go]

AHHHHHH shaZam!!I guess I'll have to bring you 4 push mowers,2 lawn tractors,2 weed eaters,and a chain saw.Wait after 2 years of storage my push mowers,weed eaters,1 riding mower,and my chain saw started right up.My other riding mower only set over the winter.My batteries don't even go dead over the winter,and I don't put a tender on them.I live in the south east.I have to deal with condensation on a daily basis.I have never had any problems with fuel over a year old or 2.I also have 3 cars that are stored.One has been stored for 8 years.I top the tank in spring start it up let it run 10 minutes shut it down,and repeat in the fall. I guess the gas gods are taking care of me.  As if there's a such thing as a god. 

[frankieG]

yaaaa i'm not buying that fuel expiry date thing either

[simon79]

Maybe on the West Coast -- here in NJ, I've parked vehicles for months and they started up fine afterwards.

BTW, interesting but irrelevant -- my sister had a 1980 Fiat that she parked after it broke down her 1st year of college.  I got to the car 6 years later, and she said that I was welcome to have it if I could drive it.  I fixed the stuck mechanism on the carburetor, and the car started right up -- 6 yr. old fuel, oil, and all.  This was in 1997, with 1991 fuel -- no doubt fuel formulae have changed since.

-b.

OT: what 1980 Fiat was that, mate?
Strada?
X1/9?


Quite strange, by the way......
Italian cars NEVER break...older ones barely rust.......or do they?

[Stephen072774]

i believe it...  Just because some motors will run perfectly fine on bad gas doesn't mean they all will.

[Wrecent_Wryder]

Yeah... I'm sure it's worse than it used to be, but not that bad yet, at least not around here.

About 2 miles from here lives a widow I know, she doesn't get out much... church and grocery store, both maybe 2 miles away. She says she often goes for 3-4 months between fillups. I asked her. No problems.

I brought this question up to my  brother once, and he pointed out that they sometimes vacation on an island that's only accessible by ferry, and they don't ferry the cars, they aren't allowed. Whole island is golf carts. He's only been there for a couple of weeks at a time, but others own property there, and spend the whole summer- with their cars waiting in a lot on the opposite bank. He'd asked the lot attendants about battery life, so many cars now have security systems and other stuff on stand-by with flashing LEDs, etc., but they said they get very few problems with cars starting, and virtually all of the ones the do get just need a jump.

There are millions of people using automotive gas in all sorts of power tools, odd vehicles, boats, outboards, etc. , and millions more that don't use some car for months for various reasons. Probably most of them don't stabilize the fuel. If the problem were really that bad, it would be better known by now. Sta-Bil would be a household word.